FACILITIES MASTER PLAN FINAL REPORT

Marion County, Oregon
FACILITIES MASTER PLAN
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Regional Service Facilities Issues and Concepts for Further Consideration
Department Input: As part of the Project Team’s data acquisition process, each department was queried as to
whether they should decentralize any of their existing operations in terms of regional (Non-Salem) facilities,
or if currently
decentralized (e.g. Sheriff’s Enforcement, Health), whether those functions should
be
conversely be centralized. In no case did any department voice the need to change to the status quo.
Regionalization and/or Decentralization Issues: By definition, decentralizing nearly any operation, whether
it involves establishing larger regional services facilities, or smaller satellite facilities results in loss of
economies-of-scale in terms of: staff, equipment, fleet vehicles, building space, and site acreage. Also,
decentralization often negatively impacts operational efficiency, coordination, and communication. Yet, the
County has an obligation to provide its citizens with reasonably convenient access to County services –an
obligation that often involves facilities. At present, with the exception of limited satellite Public Works
yards, the County’s facilities outside of Salem are leased, small in scale, and exude a limited “sense of
place.”
Concepts for Further Consideration: Considering the above, the fundamental question proposed by the
Project Team for the County is: Should the County consider establishing more consolidated and prominent
regional facilities, and if so, should they be owned or leased on a regional basis. Certainly for the previous
several decades, the Sheriff, Justice Courts, Juvenile, and Health functions have operated on a decentralized,
and to varying degrees, regional basis. Since each of these organizations envision continuing to operate on
this basis indefinitely, it would make sense to collocate these organizations into a modest regional “campus,”
which may be an assemblage of small buildings, or a consolidated facility with multiple building wings and
entrances to accommodate a variety of user groups.
Further, the Project Team surmises that a number of the organizations which did not opt to decentralize
might consid er otherwise, if there were changes in current operational methods. For example, the County
could establish a new staff classification that included the responsibilities of personnel being cross-trained in
a variety of informational, public counter service type functions. Then, the County would have a costeffective
means of possibly justifying whether it would make sense to house a full-time person at a regional
center(s), and to determine if demand for those services exist, by establishing a test program. The regional
center(s) could then be open to the public during the normal business hours, or possibly several days per
week and the staff could rotate between facilities. Additionally, advancing technologies could allow for
desktop and/or public counter, and/or conference room video-conferencing facilities. Video confere ncing
calls could be established and supervised by the new county staff position that is cross trained, and would
result in far greater “local” public access to a variety of county staff and resources in Salem. For exa mple,
would it be possible for the Assessor to conduct titling processes for mobile homes on a remote basis?
At this point, the Project Team envisions that such centers could certainly be established in North County
(Wooburn) and in East/South County (Stayton). In the end, the issue is one of cost-benefit. So
fundamentally, the County must decide if it is prudent to invest time and financial resources to develop such
facilities given other pressing priorities.
DSA KMD Executive Summary - Page XX